Chelsea State Bank ad

Reminder: April 28 Bob Pierce receives FIA’s 2018 Humanitarian of the Year Award

(Publisher’s note: My apologies to Doris Galvin for the typo in her name. The mistake has been corrected.)

By Doris Galvin

A humanitarian is someone who promotes the general welfare of humanity, who sees the value in each and every person, and who seeks by their actions to improve the lives of all they know.

Bob Pierce is just such a person, who impacted everyone he met in his varied and storied life.

Faith in Action is proud to give Pierce the Howard S. Holmes Humanitarian of the Year Award, in recognition of an individual who demonstrates the spirit of the organization and its mission to alleviate the effects of hunger and poverty for those in the Chelsea and Dexter area.

He will be honored at the Annual Benefit Banquet, which will be held Saturday, April 28, at St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea, at 6 p.m. 

For reservations, call 475-3305.

With beginnings near Buffalo, New York, his first career was in engineering and he began his married life with high school friend Nadine Anderson. They and their son, Mike, lived and worked in several places before settling in the Chelsea area and embarking on another chapter of their life by purchasing Pierce’s Pastries.

His community spirit came out in full color there. Friends and deals were made, but even more, the couple provided accommodation and opportunity for differently abled individuals, both customers and employees.

Pierce “adopted” an elderly man, estranged from his family, and even arranged his funeral after his death. Another person with a closed head injury, considered unemployable, was given opportunity for necessary breaks so he could manage his behavior and maintain employment.  

When he was encouraged to bring this energy to the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce, it was a transformative time for the business community in Chelsea. He encouraged the chamber to include nonprofits, churches and organizations large and small that impacted life in town.

“What other organization can serve this central function of putting us all at the same table?” he would say over and over. “It can never be about just business, because no business will thrive that doesn’t make friends with the people of the community and look out for their welfare.”

Pierce challenged the chamber to consider all their actions through the filter of how the marginalized and vulnerable would be impacted. Sights and Sounds, the Chelsea Farmers Market, Chelsea Summer Festival and Hometown Holidays all reflect his commitment to inclusivity, with free events that participants of all backgrounds and incomes can participate in.

Pierce’s most personal and passionate involvement has been with the group he and Anderson founded in 1996, the “Saturday Morning Challengers” at Bel Mark Lanes, which began with 16 special needs bowlers and today, over 20 years later, has a roster of 125 from communities across the county.

Recognizing the accessibility of the sport to participants across a skill spectrum, their dedication to this activity is an example to all of us that it is in our treatment of those who cannot be their own advocates that we prove our own humanity.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

1 thought on “Reminder: April 28 Bob Pierce receives FIA’s 2018 Humanitarian of the Year Award”

Comments are closed.

More News

Trees for Bees: Creating ‘Meadows in the Sky’ for Pollinators

March 9, 2024

Spring Ahead: Time Change Overnight

March 9, 2024

March 12: Learn About Ingenuity Engine at Chelsea Library

March 9, 2024

National Kidney Month: Stay Healthy, Stay Covered

March 9, 2024

Let’s Get Gardening in March

March 8, 2024

Chelsea Senior Center Giving Caregivers a Much-Needed Respite

March 8, 2024

Adult Learners Institute Seeks Office Manager

March 8, 2024

March 13: Zero Waste Coalition Meeting with Happy Planet Running Speaker Jeff Jackson

March 8, 2024

Heritage Farms Phase One Home Sales Begin March 13; Grand Opening Event March 23

March 8, 2024

March 8: Lenten Fish Fry at St. Mary Church

March 8, 2024

Recent Obituary: William Carl Rosentreter

March 8, 2024

Reading Night Launches March is Reading Month with Slideshow

March 7, 2024

Current City Board and Commission Openings

March 7, 2024

March 13: Climate Change: A Gardener’s Response to the Changes This Will Bring

March 7, 2024

March 9: Friends Used Book Sale at Chelsea District Library

March 7, 2024

Chelsea City Notice: Synopsis of Feb. 20 City Council Meeting

March 7, 2024

Recent Obituary: Bobbie Jeffers Ralph

March 7, 2024

Concept Design for the Main Street Park

March 6, 2024

March 15-17: Cap Youth Theatre Presents Disney Aladdin Jr.

March 6, 2024

March 6: Support Chelsea Music Boosters Dine at Culver’s

March 6, 2024

Recent Crime: Outstanding Warrant Arrest, Intoxicated Male

March 6, 2024